Back To The Wall
by fairblue
Summary: Follows the events of all five seasons. Dean/OC, eventual Sam/OC.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Supernatural. I own all my OC's. Song credit to Divinyls**

* * *

_You've got the upper hand_

_Well, I've got nothing to lose_

_When I'm trapped in a corner like this_

_I might light a fuse_

_There is no way out of here_

_There's no way out, my dear_

_Don't push me, don't shove_

_You better watch what you do_

**Back To The Wall**

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE**

"Faster!" Bobby Singer's voice cracked the air like a whip. "You have to be faster!"

Jade bit her tongue. It wasn't like she'd been up since five doing various exercises, or anything. Hell, it was coming up on seven in the morning and she still hadn't had breakfast. Her hands quickly sorted through pieces of the disassembled Glock on the table before her, rapidly putting them back into position.

"Five seconds --"

"Done!" Jade dropped the completed gun on the table before her, head bowed.

"An improvement of three seconds." His voice was emotionless. Jade didn't dare look up to examine his face to search for his expression. "Good."

Jade looked up before she could stop herself. Bobby was standing in front of her, smiling? After last week he hadn't even spoken to her save to instruct her during training.

He laughed, understanding her astonishment. "Don't look so surprised. I haven't got to the good part yet."

Jade found herself smiling back. "There's more than your approval after a week of brooding?" she asked teasingly.

"Jayda Singer." Though his voice scolded, Bobby's eyes were light. "I have a surprise for you."

"Eugh, full names, Dad?" Jade groaned, then stopped. "What kind of surprise?"

Though she tried to ignore it, a spark of hope flared in her belly.

"You're how old now?" he began as he sat in his chair across the kitchen table.

Jade rolled her eyes, a startling blue like her mothers. "Twenty-two. And you still won't let me --"

"I've been thinking lately, about what you said. You _have_ progressed a lot further than I thought, Jade, so I called up a few people I know."

She waited on baited breath. Had he finally given in?

"You remember John Winchester and his boys?"

Jade nodded once. She and the two boys, Sam and Dean, had grown up knowing each other though their fathers -- though they hadn't seen each other in a decade. She tried to keep in touch with the occasional phone call or text, but it often took them -- meaning Dean -- anywhere from a week to a month to reply… and by 'reply' she meant a few scraped together tidbits in a text. Sam, though, usually replied on the same day. He was at college now, Jade remembered, in California somewhere. She had been meaning to ask Bobby for some time to go visit him and his pretty girlfriend, Jess.

"He knows I don't hunt anymore --"

"I thought you and John had a falling out?" Jade slipped into the familiar routine of father-daughter conversation easily.

"John had fallings out with a lot of people. Anyways, he's one of the best hunters I've ever seen. I called in a favour, and he's going to pick you up and take you out on a hunt with him."

Jade's jaw dropped. "A hunt? A real hunt? Are you serious?"

Bobby smiled a small smile, then added gruffly, "I'd rather you go on my good graces than run off by yourself."

Jade beamed. "A real hunt? With John Winchester? Are you bloody serious?"

Bobby winced. "I knew letting you visit Australia last year with your friend's family was a bad idea."

She ignored the comment. "I'm going on a hunt. A real hunt. When is he coming? Will it just be me and John or will Dean be there too?"

"Yeah, Dean'll be with you. Sam --"

"Is at college, I know."

"John said he'd be round in the next couple days. Jayda…"

"I'll be careful, I swear!" she exclaimed. "Thank you so much, dad, thank you!" Jade had been waiting to go on a hunt ever since she was fifteen. At first Bobby had said sixteen, then eighteen, then twenty… he had never allowed her to hunt. Finally, the previous week, Jade, at the end of her tether, had flatly told Bobby that she was leaving on the next hunt she could put together and that there was nothing he could do to stop her.

_Jade slammed her hands on the table and glared at her father, seated across from her. "You trained me, dad; you swore _three _times that you'd let me go! You can't keep backing out and not expect me to get angry and leave!"_

"_Jayda Singer, you won't be going on any damn hunt unless I say you're ready. And right now, you're not ready."_

"_Dad --"_

"_Dammit, Jade, I'm not ready!"_

"_You -- what?" Jade stopped, confused._

_Bobby exhaled, face white. "After your mother died, hunting was all I knew. I had no idea how to raise a kid on my own. I trained you to hunt because at the time I couldn't see any other option. But then you kept getting older, and I stopped hunting. It was time for me to be your father -- I was ready to be your father. I thought you would stop wanting to hunt, too. But you didn't. I only kept training you because it made you happy. I never dreamed you would actually _want_ that life, Jade."_

"_But__…__ you promised." Jade's head was spinning._

"_I can't let you do it, Jade. Too many people have died, and people keep dying. There's so much evil out there -- you have no idea. You haven't seen it. Better to help out the hunters that pass through, let them do the hunting. In this world, it's better to be safe than sorry. Knowledge will save you, Jayda. I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you, too."_

"_But Dad --"_

"_Jayda, that's enough," Bobby snapped. "This conversation is over. You're not hunting, and that's final."_

"_You can't keep me here," she said slowly. "As soon as I get this hunt together, I'm gone."_

"_This conversation is over."_

Jade shrugged off the flashback quickly. "Oh!" Jade leapt from her chair. "I have to pack! What do you think I'll need? What do you reckon we'll be hunting? I hope it's something like a spirit or a wendigo --"

Bobby started to reply but Jade was already dashing up the stairs to her room, Rumsfeld bounding after her faithfully.

She paused in the doorway and took a deep breath. Jade's room was tidy and simple -- a double bed in the centre of the far wall, flanked by two bookcases filled with supernatural lore. A desk was pushed against the wall beside the door on one side, and the other sported chest of drawers. An armoire rested on another wall between two windows. Rumsfeld padded in and plopped on the bed.

It was the armoire Jade opened first, revealing her personal arsenal. Deciding to pack light, not wanting to appear too eager, Jade settled on her Glock and a small curved hunting blade able to be hidden up her sleeve. She laid them atop the desk as she would wear them on her person, and placed the rest of the set of curved blades in the bottom of her overnight bag. After a moment's hesitation she slipped a second blade into the top her boot. Next, Jade moved to the chest of drawers and threw a couple button-up tops and jeans over the spare blades, and added a small travel vanity case.

"Okay…" She flopped on the bed beside Rumsfeld and scratched his head. "Now I have to wait."

The Winchesters didn't arrive that day, as Jade had expected. Or the next. Days passed, each day dragging slower and slower until Jade almost went insane. After the fourth day of waiting she threw herself into working in the salvage yard, focusing on rebuilding the engine of her black 1990 GMC Sierra as Rumsfeld watched amusedly. Honestly, she had no idea what she was doing under the hood, but that was why she had several mechanical books with her.

With each day that passed, Jade's sense of self-assurance fell. Was John delaying his arrival so she would change her mind? Had Bobby asked him to delay for that same reason? Didn't they think she was capable? Yes, it would be her first hunt, but she had been training all her life for that moment. Why couldn't they give her the chance to prove herself?

By the sixth day Jade had stopped eating entirely.

Bobby came outside on the sixth night. Jade had been making random loud mechanical sounds all day as she attempted to rebuild the Sierra's engine, but now the yard was silent. He paused on the porch for a moment before walking slowly over to the car.

He stopped beside Rumsfeld, sprawled on the ground beside Jade's truck. "Jade?"

"Mmph." She was lying in the backseat, staring up through the open window at the starry night sky.

"You should come inside, honey. It's coming up on eleven."

Silence. Then: "Do you really think I'm not ready? Is that why you asked John not to come?"

Bobby was taken aback. "Jayda?"

She sighed. "Don't worry." With a flick of her wrist a concealed blade flicked out into her hand. She traced a fingertip along the sharp edge, still staring up and out the window. "I'm coming in."

The seventh morning, Jade didn't appear downstairs for breakfast until six.

"You missed training," Bobby stated as she entered the kitchen.

"I didn't feel like it today, I was tired." Jade snapped, swiping a bottle of milk from the fridge and taking a long swig. She hadn't slept for two days.

"Jade," Bobby warned. The shadows under her eyes worried him, as did the fatigue in her frame.

"What?" She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and eyed him disdainfully. "You do it," she said, meaning the milk.

"Do not," Bobby said with a smile.

Jade didn't acknowledge the attempt to lure her into playful banter. "Whatever." She placed the milk back in the fridge. "I'm out."

"Out?" Bobby frowned.

"Yep. Out. Out of reasons why John isn't here. Out of reasons why I should wait. So I'm getting out. I've found a hunt in Minnesota. I'm going tomorrow, or as soon as I get that damn car running." Without so much as a look at Bobby she headed for the front door.

"Jade, you're not serious."

She paused in the doorway and only turned her head so she could barely see her father out the side of one eye. "Oh, I'm serious. If you can't trust me, I'll prove it to you myself. I _am_ a hunter, Dad. You made me one."

Jade turned her head forward quickly so Bobby wouldn't see the wince that crossed her face. That had been a low blow, but she was tired of sitting around in the house and attempting to help out in the salvage yard. Before Bobby could respond Jade was outside and under the hood of the truck.

Watching her from inside the house, Bobby picked up his phone and dialled. "We have a problem."

* * *

"I don't get it," Jade grumbled, leaning closely over the exposed engine. The sun shone weakly on the back of her neck, just rising. "I did it _exactly _as the books said. Why won't you start?"

"Because you did it as the books said," a deep voice said lightly.

Jade froze. Someone had snuck up on her? Even if she was buried in a book _no one _snuck up on her. She _always _heard them coming, and unfortunately Rumsfeld was inside with her father.

"Though, why anyone who looks like you would be working in a salvage yard is a mystery to me."

If the sudden voice hadn't scared her enough the suggestive comment made Jade jerk upright and hit her head on the hood. She cried out and fell backwards into a pair of warm, hard arms.

"Watch out, sweetheart. A car engine is a dangerous place for a chick."

Jade looked up into the face of the owner of the alluring voice, but couldn't make out any features as the sun was angling behind his head. The sting of the insult remained fresh. "Excuse me?"

She perceived he grinned. "You're trying to fix an engine using a book. That's not how it works in the real world, babe. Cars have personalities. They're all different."

Jade narrowed her eyes. "Oh, and you know so much about engines and cars?"

He laughed. Jade could see his face now. It was a handsome face, with thick dark hair and warm brown eyes. Something about him was familiar… "Honey, this entire car could be in pieces and I'd know how to put it back together."

"Oh, really?" Jade asked accusingly. "So you could tell me how to fix it, then?"

"Yep."

They stood there for a moment, the dark-haired stranger still holding Jade up off the ground.

"You going to let me up?" Jade asked.

A slow smile spread over his face. "You've gotta give me a little something first." The smile left Jade in no doubt as to his meaning.

"Not going to happen," she declared. "Now let me up." Over fifty hours without sleep and without food save an apple had shortened both Jade's temper and her patience considerably. She was in no frame of mind to deal with this man's annoying flirtation.

"Aw, don't be like that," he grinned. "I'll fix your car…"

Jade narrowed her eyes. Clearly, she wasn't interested or in the mood, and he still persisted! "That's twice. After three, things get nasty." If he did anything, he dipped her slightly lower. Jade swung a leg up in an arc above her body to smack him in the head, getting ready to manoeuvre out of the strangers arms and simultaneously knock him out. Right before contact a shout made her freeze.

"Dean, leave Jade alone," a man said mildly. "I'm going up to the house."

"Dean?" Jade asked confusedly, leg frozen in midair an inch from Dean's head.

"Jade?" Dean frowned. He pulled Jade to her feet and let her go immediately, taking a step back and looking her up and down. "Jade Singer?"

"The one and only," she announced, eyeing him the same way. "God, you grew up." Jade was taken aback by the fact that he was now taller by seven or eight inches. And now he was really… edible. She mentally slapped herself. It was Dean! She didn't think her childhood friend was edible!

"Yeah, you too," he said, still frowning.

Jade's smile dropped a notch. "What's up?" Before Dean could reply, she hit his arm and exclaimed, "Oh! It wouldn't have killed you to call me once in a while! I had no idea that was you."

"What can I say; I've been busy," Dean said, all traces of the frown gone. A slow smile spread over his face again. "Hey," he said, dragging out the word.

Jade cocked a hip and crossed her arms. "What?"

"You got _short._"

Jade gasped playfully. "Not a quip about height already? You haven't been here five minutes and the wisecracks start emerging," she sighed. An evil twinkle flashed in her eye. "You have to fix my car now."

"Fair enough." Dean shot a wide smirk over his shoulder as he moved to the engine and hovered over it. "How come you, the daughter of Bobby Singer, need an instruction manual to fix an engine?"

"Shut up," she scolded playfully, putting her hands in her pockets and scuffing a shoe in the dirt. "I never had time to learn mechanics. I was training to hunt. You might say I was otherwise pleasantly engaged for most of my time."

_Clank._ Dean straightened. "Try that."

Eyeing him sceptically, Jade plonked into the driver's seat and gunned the engine. It started with a low rumble. "You fixed it!" she cried, grinning at him through the windscreen.

Dean just smiled arrogantly. "Told you I could."

Excitedly, she blurted, "Now I can -- Wait. You're here now. So I can go with you instead. Don't worry about it."

"Sorry?"

Jade turned off the engine and shifted in the seat. "You and your dad didn't show, so I told my dad I pulled a hunt together and I was leaving as soon as I fixed the engine."

"You can't go on your first hunt alone," he said harshly, instinctively reprimanding his childhood friend. He frowned again. Something was off. "Did you actually have a hunt planned or were you just going to leave?"

Averting her eyes, Jade started to lie, then stopped, knowing somehow she couldn't lie to Dean. She didn't know him well enough to be a convincing liar. "There wasn't a hunt. But I won't just sit around here the rest of my life. I _want _to hunt. Dad can't understand that." At first Dean didn't respond. Jade looked up at him then, and was instantly uncomfortable with the way Dean was studying her. It wasn't… normal. "What?" she asked defensively. "Is there something wrong with wanting to hunt?"

"No," Dean answered. He took a breath. "Come on, I want to see your dad." He made to help her out of the car but changed his mind halfway through the gesture and brought his hand back to his side.

Jade ducked her head as she passed him, confused with the gesture and the way her stomach twisted in response. She had never reacted to him like this before. Now everything was strange and a little uncomfortable and awkward… What did that mean?

* * *

"It's a good thing you boys showed up when you did," Bobby told John and Dean while Jade was upstairs repacking her bag, serving both the Winchesters with a cold beer. Bobby knew Jade had unpacked it the day before via throwing its contents around her bedroom. He was still annoyed about the havoc the blades had wreaked -- and would have had Jade fix it all herself if she hadn't been leaving. "Jade was going to go out on her own as soon as she fixed that truck of hers."

"Trying to fix the engine via instruction manual," Dean said, horrified. "That's criminal."

Bobby laughed. "Hasn't got a single mechanical bone in her body, save for weapons. Can put a piece together faster than anyone I've ever seen."

"Can she use one?" Dean asked.

"Oh, yeah," Bobby answered. "Trains every day for hours."

John nodded. "We'll take her along on this hunt; show her the ropes. We'll see if she's ready or not."

Bobby took a deep swallow and placed his beer on the table. "John --"

"She'll be safe, Bobby. Dean and I have this one blindfolded." Though he didn't share it, John understood Bobby's reluctance for Jade to finally complete her induction into the hunter lifestyle.

"Okay, I'm ready," Jade proclaimed as she re-entered the room, bag clutched in her hand. She wore the same clothes from before: black jeans with a short-sleeved ice blue button-up top. Her dark brown hair was tied back in a ponytail, leaving a few strands to hang around her face. Save a little eyeliner Jade wore no makeup -- never having much time or patience or reason to learn how to apply the various cosmetic powders and creams. The Glock was in the back of her jeans, cleverly hidden by the looseness of the top she wore. The blade she had been planning to wear up her sleeve was now stashed in her jeans pocket.

She was ready.

John stood. "We'll be in touch." Bobby nodded to him in farewell and watched his old friend walk outside to his truck.

Dean stood next. "Jade, you're riding with me. Where's your stuff?"

"This is it," she said, motioning to the bag she carried. "I packed light."

"You passed your first test." He pulled the bag from her grasp. "I'll be in the Impala. See you later, Bobby."

Bobby also nodded to Dean as he left. Finally, he turned to Jade. "Jayda."

Jade started blabbing instantly. "I'll be fine, Dad. I've been training for this for years. And I'm not by myself. The Winchesters will look out for me." Jade shifted, uncomfortable. She was filled with excitement, yes, but also a sweet sorrow for the man standing in front of her. She could see Bobby was trying to remain his usual, gruff self, but Jade knew all his masks.

"I know that," Bobby said. "And I know you won't give them any trouble, either." His voice took on that unique parental tone, making Jade smile and roll her eyes.

"Yes, Dad." She stepped forward and hugged him fiercely. "I love you." Pressing a quick kiss to his rough cheek Jade moved away. "I'll call when I can."

"I know you will, kid." Bobby coughed. "Now get out of here."

With a thousand-watt smile Jade skipped out of the house and over to the Impala. "Nice," she said to Dean approvingly. "Can I drive?" The burst of laughter that erupted from his mouth made Jade want to smile and laugh too, but she refrained. "What's so funny?" Her stomach twisted at the pure masculine tone of his laugh. She tried to ignore the sensation -- not uncomfortable, just…

"You --" he choked out, "You think I'd let you drive my baby."

Jade crossed her arms. "Is that so laughable?"

"Hell yes," Dean chuckled. "You tried to fix your truck using an _instruction manual_. There's no way you're driving the Impala. Ever."

"Whatever," Jade muttered as Dean, still snickering, slid into the driver's seat. For a reason unknown to her at the time, she deliberately walked slowly around the hood to the passenger door and got in. "Oh, yeah, very nice car," she commented, running her hands slowly over the upholstery, lingering over the smooth interior.

"Not going to work," Dean said as he started the car, staring straight ahead.

Jade just smiled. "Oh, it will. One day."

"And Sam will come back and hunt," Dean said without thinking.

"I know he's in California now," Jade mused. "How's he doing? I haven't talked to him in a while."

"Join the club," Dean said darkly. "What are you doing?"

Motioning to the phone in her hand, she explained, "I'm sending him a text. Unlike you, Sam usually replies within the next twenty-four hours."

"You're just going to text him?" he asked incredulously, glancing at her. "And he'll send one back?"

"Sure." Jade looked up to see Dean gripping the wheel tightly. "Do -- do you want me not to?"

"Do whatever you want to, Jade," Dean said tightly, though trying to be light. "It doesn't bother me."

But Jade could see it did bother him, so she casually put her phone away. "Maybe we should start driving soon?"

That made Dean laugh. "We've been driving for the last two minutes, babe."

She looked out her window to see they were following John's truck through a field and rubbed her eyes. Not sleeping for two days had put a hitch in her perception. "A _very_ nice car."

It was time for Dean to roll his eyes. "Never going to get you in this seat, Jade." With a flick of his wrist he turned on the old radio. "Pass me that box down there."

"Tapes? What have you got?" Jade quickly looked through Dean's collection. "AC/DC… Metallica… Blue Öyster Cult… Creedence… Excellent."

Dean grinned. "Finally, a chick that likes real music!"

"We grew up with this stuff, Dean," Jade laughed, fighting a sudden blush. What was going on with her lately? "This is all I've ever known."

"It's great, isn't it?" he smirked as he placed a tape in the player and AC/DC started with a blast of electric guitar.

Jade found herself smiling back. "It sure is. Gotta love the classics." Dean held her gaze. Jade stopped breathing. Her heart started to pound a little harder. Then Dean blinked, and whatever had just happened was broken.

Dean looked back out the windshield, and Jade looked out her window, resisting the urge to place her hand over her jumpy stomach.

This car trip should be just peachy.

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**Reviews are love :)**


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